KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA BINA

Session {2017-18}

PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

“PHENOMENON OF DIFFRACTION OF LIGHT”

SUBMITTED TO submitted by
Mrs. Pooja patel Ayush Kumar suman
 {Pgt - physics} class - XII {science}

Roll no {08}

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is with great pleasure that I find myself penning down these lines to
express my sincere thanks to various people who help me long way in completing
this project.

The harmonious climate in our school provided proper guide for

preparing the project. It was a privilege to have been guided my mrs. Pooja patel.

Thanks to my classmates who helped me during the development of this

with their constructive critism and advice.
 Student Signature

Certificate

This is to certify that ayush kumar suman of class xii {science} has
performed this project under my supervision and has completed it with much
effort.

This project may be considered as a part fulfillment of all india senior

secondary certificate physics practical examination 2017-18 conducted by central
board of secondary education new delhi.

Ms. sunita gupta ms. Pooja Patel

 {principal} {pgt physics}

k.v. bina K.v. bina

Content
1. introduction

2. diffraction

3. diffraction patterns

4. single slit diffraction

5. single slit interference

6. diffraction grating

7. BIBIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
The phenomenon of diffraction was first documented in 1665 by the
Italian Francesco Maria Grimaldi. The use of lasers has only become
common in the last few decades. The laser's ability to produce a narrow
beam of coherent monochromatic radiation in the visible light range
makes it ideal for use in diffraction experiments: the diffracted light
forms a clear pattern that is easily measured. As light, or any wave,
passes a barrier, the waveform is distorted at the boundary edge. If the
wave passes through a gap, more obvious distortion can be seen. As the
gap width approaches the wavelength of the wave, the distortion becomes
even more obvious. This process is known as diffraction. If the
diffracted light is projected onto a screen some distance away, then
interference between the light waves create a distinctive pattern (the
diffraction pattern ) on the screen. The nature of the diffraction
pattern depends on the nature of the gap (or mask) which diffracts the
original light wave. Diffraction patterns can be calculated by from a
function representing the mask. The symmetry of the pattern can reveal
useful information on the symmetry of the mask. For a periodic object,
the pattern is equivalent to the reciprocal lattice of the object. In
conventional image formation, a lens focuses the diffracted waves into an
image. Since the individual sections (spots) of the diffraction pattern
each contain information, by forming an image from only particular parts
of the diffraction pattern, the resulting image can be used to enhance
particular features. This is used in bright and dark field imaging.

DIFFRACTION

 WHAT IS DIFFRACTION ?

When parallel waves of light are obstructed by a very small object (i.e.
sharp edge, slit, wire, etc.), the waves spread around the edges of the
obstruction and interfere, resulting in a pattern of dark and light fringes.

 WHAT DOES DEFFRATION LOOK LIKE ?

When light diffracts off of the edge of an object, it creates a pattern
of light referred to as a diffraction pattern. If a monochromatic light
source, such as a laser, is used to observe diffraction, below are some
examples of diffraction patterns that are created by certain objects.

DIFFRACTION PATTERNS
SINGLE SLIT DIFFRACTION
In our consideration of the Young’s double-slit experiments, we have assumed
the width of the slits to be so small that each slit is a point source. In this
 section we shall take the width of slit to be finite and see how Fraunhofer
diffraction arises. Let a source of monochromatic light be incident on a slit of
finite width a, as shown in Figure 1

FIGURE:- Diffraction of light by a slit of width a

In diffraction of Fraunhofer type, all rays passing through the slit are
approximately parallel. In addition, each portion of the slit will act as a source of
light waves according to Huygens’s principle. For simplicity we divide the slit into
two halves. At the first minimum, each ray from the upper half will be exactly 180
out of phase with a corresponding ray form the lower half. For example, suppose
there are 100 point sources, with the first 50 in the lower half, and 51 to 100 in the
upper half. Source 1 and source 51 are separated by a distance and are out of phase
with a path difference ° a / 2 δ = λ / 2 . Similar observation applies to source 2 and
source 52, as well as any pair that are a distance a / 2 apart. Thus, the condition for
the first minimum is

Applying the same reasoning to the wavefronts from four equally spaced
points a distance a / 4 apart, the path difference would be δ = a sinθ / 4 , and the
condition for destructive interference is
 The argument can be generalized to show that destructive interference will
occur when

Figure 2 illustrates the intensity distribution for a single-slit diffraction.

Note that θ = 0 is a maximum.

By comparing Eq. (14.5.4) with Eq. (14.2.5), we see that the condition for
minima of a single-slit diffraction becomes the condition for maxima of a double-slit
interference when the width of a single slit a is replaced by the separation between
the two slits d. The reason is that in the double-slit case, the slits are taken to be
so small that each one is considered as a single light source, and the interference of
waves originating within the same slit can be neglected. On the other hand, the
minimum condition for the single-slit diffraction is obtained precisely by taking into
consideration the interference of waves that originate within the same slit.

SINGLE SLIT INTERFERENCE

How do we determine the intensity distribution for the pattern produced by a
single-slit diffraction? To calculate this, we must find the total electric field
by adding the field contributions from each point. Let’s divide the single slit
 into N small zones each of width ∆y a = / N , as shown in Figure 14.6.1. The
convex lens is used to bring parallel light rays to a focal point P on the screen.
We shall assume that ∆y << λ so that all the light from a given zone is in phase.
Two adjacent zones have a relative path length δ = ∆y sinθ . The relative phase
shift ∆β is given by the ratio

FIGURE 3 :- Single-slit Fraunhofer diffraction

Suppose the wavefront from the first point (counting from the top) arrives at
the point P on the screen with an electric field given by

The electric field from point 2 adjacent to point 1 will have a phase shift ∆β ,
and the field is
 FIGURE:- Intensity of the single-slit Fraunhofer diffraction pattern

FIGURE:- Intensity of single-slit diffraction as a function of θ for a = λ

and a = 2λ
 DIFFRACTION GRATING
A diffraction grating consists of a large number N of slits each of width a
and separated from the next by a distance d , as shown in Figure

FIGURE:- Diffraction grating

If we assume that the incident light is planar and diffraction spreads the light from
each slit over a wide angle so that the light from all the slits will interfere with
each other. The relative path difference between each pair of adjacent slits is δ = d
sinθ , similar to the calculation we made for the double-slit case. If this path
difference is equal to an integral multiple of wavelengths then all the slits will
constructively interfere with each other and a bright spot will appear on the screen
at an angle θ . Thus, the condition for the principal maxima is given by

If the wavelength of the light and the location of the m-order maximum are known,
the distance d between slits may be readily deduced. The location of the maxima
does not depend on the number of slits, N. However, the maxima become sharper
and more intense as N is increased. The width of the maxima can be shown to be
inversely proportional to N. In Figure 14.8.2, we show the intensity distribution as a
function of β / 2 for diffraction grating with N =10 and N=30 . Notice that the
principal maxima become sharper and narrower as N increases.
FIGURE:- Intensity distribution for a diffraction grating for (a) N=30 and
(b) N=30

The observation can be explained as follows: suppose an angle θ ( recall that β

= 2 s π a inθ / λ ) which initially gives a principal maximum is increased slightly,
if there were only two slits, then the two waves will still be nearly in phase and
produce maxima which are broad. However, in grating with a large number of
slits, even though θ may only be slightly deviated from the value that produces
a maximum, it could be exactly out of phase with light wave from another slit
far away. Since grating produces peaks that are much sharper than the two-
slit system, it gives a more precise measurement of the wavelength.

THANK YOU
 BIBIOLOGY

1. www.google.com
2. Ncert text book {CLASS 12}
3. STUDY MATERIAL
4. REFERENCE BOOKS {PHYSICS}
5. TEACHER {k.v. bina}
6. CLASSMATES